Persona 4X: The World's Universe
by damus1cmahn
Summary: The Great Seal is doing its job and holding Erebus back, but what happens when its integrity is in danger? It'll take more than just the Shadow Ops to ensure the seal's safety. Read on as the Shadow Ops and The Investigation Team try to find out who the Malevolent Entity really is (spoilers). Part one of three. Pairings: YuxRise, MakotoxYukari, AkihikoxMitsuru, and others.
1. Meanwhile in the Seal

**A/N:** This is another project that deals with a series I also have a rather unhealthy encyclopedic knowledge of. In this work, it goes through the trials and tribulations of the Investigation Team and the Shadow Ops as they find out who the Malevolent Entity really is (a P3/FES/P and a P4/A/G crossover). The project works with many theories of how the P3 male protagonist, named Makoto Yuki from the film, will be saved. The onset of this chapter is set on the 2-year anniversary of the Promised Day. This is the first part of a three-part project. Set pairings: YuxRise, MakotoxYukari, AkihikoxMitsuru, YosukexChie, KanjixNaoto, and JunpeixChidori.

**NOTE:** Minako, the most commonly used name for the female protagonist of P3P, is set to be Yu Narukami's age.

**SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT PLAYED PERSONA 3 [FES]/PORTABLE AND PERSONA 4 [GOLDEN]/ARENA. Read at your own discretion. **

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own the Persona Series, Atlus, or any subsidiary of the Sega Corporation. This is merely a fan-based work with no monetary gain expected.

* * *

**Chapter 1: ...Meanwhile in the Seal...**

_1/31/2012_

White. All he saw was white all around him. The horizon was an endless sea of white, as far as the eye can see. But in front of him was a wall, a wall of gold. He found his imprint at the very center of the wall, like it was a marking of his eternal tomb. The air around him…there was no air around him. How he found himself breathing was both a miracle and mystery. There was no sense of weather, no sense of hot and cold, no sense of day or night. There was no food, no water, no life...it was an endless void. And yet, his strength did not falter. He knew he was bound to this fate and would not give anything to alter it. This was the Great Seal, separating the Goddess of Night and the God of Darkness, guarded by the young man with blue hair and impeccable taste in music whom sacrificed his life and soul to ensure the survival of humanity.

It had been this way for two very long years, but there was no way he could have known. There was no sense of time in the Sea of Souls. All he has been doing was listening to the same sixty songs on his blue neck-strap MP3 player. It was amazing that all this time, the batteries never run out, but the Sea of Souls bends reality, warps logic, and eliminates all that makes sense. He could compare it to Davy Jones' Locker, where all who have perished at sea remain in a reality-warped dimension. He needed to find something to keep his mind occupied; the same sixty songs playing for the last two years remained to get any better.

He looked around again, seeing nothing but a sea of white. While the barrier hold back the mighty God of Darkness, Erebus as he was called, he sat on the other side, where Nyx supposedly was. He decided to test this theory out. He slowly let in a gasp of "air" and slowly let it out. Sound can be heard resonating from his throat; he finally found his voice after two years of silence. He wanted to push his limits to see where he can go, a simple word would suffice. He slowly spoke a single word.

"…Hello?"

The silence that followed was deafening. He waited for a response while taking a seat with his back against the seal. He remembered why he did not want to speak for two years; it was like carrying on a conversation with himself. While he felt Erebus getting his ass handed to him by Elizabeth, and Elizabeth occasionally visiting and talking to the seal (he felt her presence), there was no way he could respond; sound could not travel between the barrier. How badly he wanted to talk to her, his only friend in this world. He would soon find out he was not alone in this world. A reply came to him, much to his surprise, in a woman's voice.

"…who dares speak in my domain?!" it bellowed, startling Makoto out of his bored-like stupor. He wondered if he should respond back. Wait…only his physical image is out of the seal while his internal soul is still holding up the barrier. This voice cannot do anything to him. He was the seal, for all he cared.

"Uh…this is Makoto Yuki…the Great Seal which separates Nyx from Erebus. Who am I speaking to?" he responded slowly, unsure of the outcome of this conversation. Usually, he did not have a problem talking to strangers, only they were human and could be dealt with if they rubbed him the wrong way. Talking to a faceless being who may or may not be his destruction is another thing. He patiently waited for a response, hoping for the best case scenario. The worst case was that there was a violent, primordial being on this side of the seal and now would have to deal with two things breaking the seal instead of one; he was not ready to deal with that, especially if his physical image was on this side. He chose to materialize on this side for a reason, which Erebus was definitely not on this side of the door.

"Ah…the young man who sacrificed his soul to keep the God of Darkness from touching me. To what may I owe this pleasure, to?" the voice, now female in character, stated. Makoto could not tell if she was being sincere or sarcastic; either could be a different outcome, to say the least. He decided to respond anyways.

"Well, I've been stuck here for a long time and was getting a little, for lack of better term, bored. Just wondering if you could do something about it."

"The Great Seal is rethinking of becoming the Great Seal?" Nyx mocked as she let loose a bone chilling laugh. Makoto frowned at that. He never wanted to become the Seal; no one in their right mind would willingly sacrifice themselves with a smile. He did it out of a sense of duty and what he owed to his friends, teammates, and, most importantly, lover that showed him a way out of darkness; it was only natural that he pay them back with a chance for them to find a reason live as he already found his.

"Do you really have to say it like that?" Makoto asked, exasperated, "I know you are not inherently evil, so why the hate?"

"So you decided to cage me in…well not really, but still!"

"You're still able to move around, just not past this wall. _I'm_ the one who can't move."

"Well, you did materialize a physical copy of yourself on this side of the wall and connected your eyes to it. Shame you don't have enough power to do that to let you see the real world."

"Sh-sh-SHUT UP!" he yelled.

"Ha ha! I kid, I kid. Just how long has it been since you sealed me up in here?"

"Again, just blocking you with a wall. Didn't seal you in a cage or anything. But, I don't know, based on the amount of times I've played my entire MP3 player, about two years exactly?"

"Ah. Such a long time without anyone to talk to, although I haven't talked with anyone for eons. Then again, I'm the Goddess of Night and don't really need to."

"How do you deal with this boredom? It's increasingly irritating."

"How would I know? I've been watching people for multiple millennia until recently and that's always kept me busy."

"Ugh! You're no help! It's really lonely in this place and you're not making it any better!" Nyx let out a rather loud grunt.

"Okay…we both don't want to be in this situation, but we can't do anything about it. What can I do to make it more…bearable?" Makoto started to think of ways he can make living a life of solitude more tolerable. His thoughts permeated the "air"; everything here was out in the open. No one can hide their thoughts…unless one was Nyx as she was the original inhabitant of this domain. Nyx had suddenly thought of an idea. If Makoto was able to manifest a physical being on this side representing himself and use it as an avatar, there was no doubt she could do the same. She began to work on her special project to hopefully ease the newly found tension. She did not want to deal with an irritable Messiah.

Makoto's thoughts began to wonder. What were all of his friends up to at this point? How did they enjoy their second chance at life? The one time he saw them as the seal was when they were fighting amongst each other with various options to go back in time and save him. He did not want any of that. Still, he began to wonder…did Junpei ever make it out of high school? Was Akihiko a full-time boxer? Did Fuuka ever learn to fully master the art of cooking and make a supercomputer to do it for her? Does Ken still stay at the dorm? Does Koromaru still take long walks with Akihiko? How was Mitsuru faring with leading her company out of darkness? Were she and Akihiko ever going to end up together? Was Aigis doing well as a humanly human robot? And most of all, does Yukari still miss him like she said she did…

If there was one person he missed most of all, it was Yukari. Together, they have been through a lot, keeping each other company at school to fighting grotesque monsters that spewed out of nowhere in a giant tower that seemed to never end. Upon their rocky first meeting (she drew a gun on him, for starters!), their friendship grew out of trust and teamwork, always supporting one another through the best and worst of times. One of those times where Yukari was at her lowest was when Kirijo-san (the head honcho, not one of his best friends) showed an unknowingly doctored video that put Yukari's dad in probably the worst spotlight possible. She ran out of the mansion, crying hysterically, blaming herself for ever believing in him. Makoto took this moment to chase after her and comfort her, igniting a spark that would last through the ages, or at least he hoped so. He would never forget that moment where he was there to pick her up while she was down. And that was all he cared for, to make sure she was never down again.

He still hears her in his thoughts, those silent thoughts that drove him for two years. Here in the Sea of Souls, or the Collective Unconscious (he did not know what to call it anymore), the thoughts of all human beings rang softy in his head. It spooked him at first, but over time, he learnt to tune specific frequencies out to single out specific people as well as channel his own thoughts over the others. He still constantly looked out for his former teammates and most of all, Yukari. He still remembers her last thought, which was three hours ago based on what song he was on during the current reiteration of the playlist.

'_I hope he's okay up there; it must get lonely. ~sigh~ I miss you so much, Makoto. I'll still be here waiting for you even in the next life. Maybe I could spend all eternity sitting with your statue at the Seal. You'll still be there waiting for me, right?'_

"Of course I'll still be here waiting for you. Hell, I'll even let you inside if I could. We could spend eternity together in here, I don't need anyone else." Of course his thoughts resonated through the void as he was physically part of this dimension, meaning that Nyx heard it. He cringed at the thought of Nyx giving him shit about sappy love stuff, but in the end, what was the Goddess going to do? Speak of the devil…

"Okay, boy. To appease the Messiah of his boredom, loneliness, and, apparently, love-sick heart from the separation from his consort, I have decided to make myself physically present. I hope this keeps you from complaining." She materialized out of thin "air" and stood proudly in front of Makoto. It was one sight to behold.

"Good lord, Yukari's gonna kill me…"

Standing a nice 168 centimeters tall (at the same height as him), the Queen of Night donned a fitting black dress, cut to the knee. Her eyes radiated green pupils and her long, black hair flowed straight down her back to her knees. Her pale complexion provided the needed contrast to the darkness of herself. Her slender figure was complemented by proportionate curves all around, especially her upper chest. Makoto was not sure what to think at this point; his nose were past the point of bleeding, if there were such thing as bleeding. Should he keep staring, or turn away in embarrassment.

'No…Nyx isn't shying away like other girls, more like she's proud of this body she made. But where have I seen that before. It's almost like a weirdly proportionate Medaka from Medaka Box with black hair and a black dress…good manga, but damn I didn't get to finish it! Aside that point, damn does she look good. Must've taken some notes from looking at all of the people down on Earth. I wonder what it's like on the moon. How does it feel to be on the moon? How do- wait a sec…I can hear my thoughts in this dimension…SHIT!'

"Yes, you now remember everyone can hear your thoughts in here. I feel quite flattered. Now what should we do first?" Makoto thought about it a little. For two years, he has not eaten a single bite; there was no need to in this world. He wanted to taste some steak, but he wondered how he was going to cook the steak, let alone find one. Where could one find a random cow in this dimension anyways?

It seemed that Nyx already had the answer. With one wave of a hand, two slabs of a raw 32oz rib eye steak appears along with a grill, two tables, plates, forks, knives, and even napkins. His jaws hit his feet. Just how was she able to materialize things out of nothingness? It seemed Nyx was prepared to answer this question based on how quickly her mouth opened in response.

"Well to answer your question, this Sea of Souls, or the Collective Unconscious (which ever you prefer, I don't care), houses human thoughts and emotions. Of course people would think about steak and food. Anything that humans think can become reality here. That is why when humans wished for death, they called upon Erebus to make it happen, or until you single-handedly stopped it. Any questions?"

"So say if you were to materialize a girl in here…"

"I know what you are thinking, but unless she's the thought of someone from the outside with the same feelings, motives, and personality as you, chances are that she's not going to appear or is not going to be the same. Since you are here, your thoughts will not materialize, unless it is yourself since you need to move around." Makoto became increasingly depressed at that statement.

"Oh don't get all depressed, now. I materialized myself to help appease that. Now, teach me how to cook steak; I've always wanted to see a human actually do it. I've only seen it from afar or heard people think about it. So what do you say? Will that cheer you up?"

"Yeah, sure. So we start with…" Makoto showed Nyx how to properly marinate, season, and grill the steak. Part of him was wondering if it would even taste like anything since it just appeared out of nowhere. About 2 hours later, they had two ready-to-eat steaks served with a side of salad. Makoto feared for his life of how this steak would taste (he used his secret recipe in which only Yukari, Fuuka, and Mitsuru have tried). Even worse, he was debuting this recipe to a Goddess. This for sure will not go over well. Slowly, he picked up his fork and knife and began to cut into the meat. His steak was cooked medium-rare, which he saw a good amount of red and pink, but not too bloody to the point of hearing the steak moo. It was after he finished cooking his steak where Nyx tried to cook hers. Needless to say, it can be said that she was able to grasp concepts quickly. Her steak came out even better than Makoto's, if one was going for a perfect rare steak. He glanced over to her plate as she sliced it open with the steak knife. Outside was a perfectly dark brown coat with red meat, oozing with red juices. They ate their meal in silence, not daring to bother each other.

As far as Makoto can tell, the steak tasted pretty genuine. He was not sure how it was possible that something out of thin air could taste so real, yet it was like a projected image. He just remembered, though, that people's thoughts make up the Collective Unconscious; their thoughts of taste probably made its way into the steak as a collective thought on how it was supposed to taste. But that aside, it dawned on Makoto that the possibility for creative freedom here was limitless. After they had finished their steak, he wanted to see if he could summon a one-handed sword. A simple one for starters.

"Hey Nyx," Makoto suddenly said, making Nyx look up from her giant steak, "how did you summon these things?"

"Quite simple, actually. Thoughts of all humans make their way in here. There's bound to be someone thinking of what you are thinking at the moment. So all you have to do is think about it yourself and it will appear right in front of you."

"Oh. Let me try one. I'll create a sword." Makoto waited for a thought to come in about swords. He thought for five or so minutes before he recognized one thought, and who it belonged to. Unsurprisingly, the thought was about him, S.E.E.S, and the times he went through with his katana. He must have come across his katana in his closet or something.

"Here's the sword of my best friend, Junpei!"

A katana with black lacing and a silver handle materialized in Makoto's hand. He swung it around with pride and gusto as Nyx watched on. She manifested her own sword: another katana, belonging to a teenager she identified as Yu Narukami.

"Say, I saw you wield a blade against my avatar, Ryoji. I would like to test your skills myself." Makoto smirked at the proposition.

"Well, now that you asked for it, I'm not holding back." Within an instant, their swords clashed. A loud ring echoed through the void and reverberated from the golden wall. They evenly exchanged blows for well over an hour. But that did not matter, no one here got sapped of energy because they were just mere projections. Makoto was still in the Seal and Nyx was still an omnipotent being.

"Oh yeah," Nyx began as they continued clashing swords, "did I ever tell you that I wasn't planning to bring the Fall."

"…what…" Makoto responded flatly, as he tried to charge at the opening, failing to see her right knee go up.

"You see, the human collective was represented by Erebus, or as you read in Greek Mythology, my ass of a husband. They call upon him to try to touch me so I will bring about the end, but in truth, I didn't want that, I don't want to mess with the order of things. You could call me indifferent about the situation. But if Erebus were to touch me, your species would be at its end. I'm kinda glad you put a stop to that."

"Heh, it was no biggie. Just had to sacrifice my soul in exchange for 7 billion more to live on. What's so bad about losing a guy instead of everyone, right?"

"Well that's one way to look at it. Let's do something else. This sword play is getting quite boring since we are on equal footing. Your training is impeccable."

"Heh, well thanks. This was eight years of kendo training and a year of fighting shadows. Really honed in my swordsmanship." They both stopped and put down their weapons.

"I know! Let's make futons so I can finally get some rest! This white floor is kinda uncomfortable," Makoto suggested.

"I would agree." They both materialized futons on separate sides of their now "designated" area. They had set up a small, circular wall to enclose them in. They continued to make furniture that made up pseudo living quarters. It seemed as if they created a fairly large, open-spaced apartment with a living area, dining area, kitchen, gaming center, tennis court, sparring ring, two separate bedrooms, dressers, and pretty much anything you could find in an apartment. Their usual activities ranged from about 8 hours of rest, 3 hours of total eating, 2 hours of exercise, an hour of leisure reading, an hour of talking to each other about various things, an hour of gaming, 5 to 6 hours of studying, 2 hours of trying something new, and about half an hour of bathing. Of course with bathing, they had curtains that go up. This went on for almost two months.

They were in the middle of playing tennis when Nyx suddenly stopped and dropped her racket. Makoto stared at her as he noticed her face change. It went from being content and satisfied to concerned and worried.

"Hey Nyx," Makoto called out from the other side of the court, "you okay over there?"

"Well, on the bright side, it feels as if a great burden was lifted from this land, like the truth was finally revealed and dealt with accordingly. But, now I have this feeling that there is more trouble brewing, like there was more to the situation that meets the eye. Even I don't know what it is. Whatever is out there is plotting something against this universe, but you and I can't do anything about it. This Malevolent Entity I'm sensing…I don't like it and I feel it will endanger your friends." Makoto's face darkened.

"…how are you sure about this?"

"You see, I am one of the beings who willingly live in and watch over this dimension. You'll gain that power soon enough. I can see and sense outside this seal where as you cannot. I know Erebus has been reforming itself after the ass kicking your teammates did. It's not remotely as strong, but it has regained its full physical form. But let's get back on subject, there is a threat out there and could be targeting your friends who wield personas. I don't know what to do here, but since Erebus can only bring about the Fall without my full power. I believe we can stop it from happening if I leave a part of my existence up here while my physical self and the rest of my existence will be in your dimension."

"Well, I can't do anything because I don't have any power here! Why are you asking me what to do even if I have no way to communicate with the outside world?!" Nyx became thoughtful after that comment.

"Well, I have an idea. It may not work, but we will give it our best shot. You see, I have a feeling that we can connect with the outside world if we find someone exactly like you in potential and history, meaning wild card status, who hasn't awaken to their persona yet. If that person already has their persona, their mind becomes clouded with their other self and it will be impossible to establish a communication link. It should be fine to talk to said person after they awaken their persona, though (counting that we've established a link beforehand). They don't have to have the same personality though, due to having multiple personalities as a wild card."

"Well, it's the only shot we've got. So let's start scanning." Nyx stood on her side of the court and concentrated her power, closing her eyes and clasping her hands over her heart. Her form began to emit a green aura that lit the entire void, going through the wall. This green wave show continued for over an hour before she stopped emitting green waves. She slowly opened her eyes and her hands fell to her sides.

"I believe I found a worthy candidate, although it may not be who you'd expect. I shall create a TV for a link to this person so as we connect with her, we can see what is going on in the outside world. This is the only chance we have to warn the others. Are you ready to see who your counterpart is?" Makoto stood, shaking. He gulped as she created a large 213cm display from Sony, more specifically the Sony XBR 4K 84" TV. She then concentrated her power again, taking Makoto's information, and emitting blue light at the TV. The TV flipped on and revealed a…

* * *

_3/21/2010 – Iwatodai, Japan – Clear Skies_

_11:00PM_

For ten years up until two years ago, she felt something was off with her. It was every day at midnight where the world turned a sickly green. She would always pass it off as an extra hour of needed sleep. She never told anyone about it in fear of other marking her as delirious, but she pressed on. She had no real set of parents to call her own; she remembered the night someone came to her house and told her that there had been an accident at her father's workplace. Her mother was picking up her father after he got called in for an emergency at around midnight. It was that time where she first noticed the world turned its sickly green color. She went down to the first floor to check on her aunt who was living with them at the time.

"…Obasan…" she cautiously yelled, echoing throughout the house. The air was cold, dense, and had the distinct smell of blood. Where ever there was water, it turned to blood. She feared the worst when her aunt did not respond. After all, the air did smell like blood. She slowly approached her aunt's bedroom and opened it up. What she saw next scarred her for life. In the bed that her aunt was supposed to be in was a black coffin. She could not hold back the scream she was attempting to hold in. Locking herself in her room, shutting all of the blinds, and retreating to the darkest corner of the room, she crouched up in a fetal position and cried to herself, waiting for it to be all over. Just as all hope seemed lost, everything reverted back to its original color, the air became warm and humid again, and the scent returned to its original, musty odor. But as she stood up, the doorbell rang. Her aunt was at the door by the time she got down. A tall man with dark hair, a dark suit, and an eye patch greeted the two with a solemn tone.

"Good evening…is the young Ms. Arisato here?" he slowly started. She slowly nodded her head, her aunt looking down at her. The next words that came out of his mouth were the most painful to hear, and still haunts her to this very day.

"I regret to inform you of Mr. and Mrs. Arisato's passing in a company accident. I am truly sorry and offer my dearest condolences. Your father was one of my dearest friends and coworkers…" he began to break down in tears, even leaking through his eye patch, "…and your mother was a very dear friend of mine as well. I am so sorry, Minako…" he cried. She did not know what was going on. All she saw at the moment was the tall man in the black suit with the leaking eye patch embracing her in a hug. She knew him from her father's company and their gatherings. She would sometimes see his daughter, with dark-red hair that was three years older than her, another girl with short brown hair that was two years older than her, and a boy with silver hair who was around her age. Regardless, she was let go of the embrace and the man left without another word, his face hardened and stained with tears. Her aunt retreated to her room and she began to hear muffled crying at the loss of her beloved sister. Minako retreated up to her room, closed the door, and replayed the words of the man with the eye patch. She slowly sunk down at her door and the dam finally broke.

All of these thoughts about the "green hour" made Minako frown as she retreated up to her room for the evening. She promised herself that she would try not to remember the first time she experienced the Green Hour. Her aunt was probably downstairs sleeping in her room. For 12 years, her aunt had been caring for Minako, sending her off to the best boarding schools money could buy. Her parents' will allowed for that, as well as the Kirijo's Group compensation on behalf of the Chairman himself. She had just completed her 2nd year at the nationally renowned Gekkoukan High School.

It was strange how about two years ago, the Green Hour just stopped appearing. It was like someone or something had stopped it. She thought about the strangeness of not getting an extra hour worth of sleep or time to do homework. She learnt to tune out the sounds of monsters that echoed across the city. But it was a welcomed change and a burden lifted from her heart. She plopped herself down on her bed, took a look at her room decorated in red, and turned the lights out. Within minutes, she drifted off into…

She woke up in what looks like white area with furniture everywhere. The area was sectioned off to seem like an apartment of sorts with no walls. In front of her was a young man, probably two or so years older than her in her high school's uniform, and a young woman looking about the same age in a very form-fitting dress. They looked at her with amazement as she stared back at them with fear and confusion.

"…ummm…who are you guys and what the hell am I doing here? No, the correct question is how did I get here?" Makoto tried to answer, but could not. Nyx was just too amazed that it even worked.

"Hey! I want some answers here! Am I dreaming?"

"In a sense, yes," Nyx finally answered, "we summoned you here because we have a task that we think only you can do." Minako recoiled, again.

"…wait! Why me?"

"Because you hold my level of potential and have a very similar history, and thus I can only communicate through you to the outside world."

"Wait, back the hell up! What do you mean?"

"You know how the Dark Hour stopped? You have to have experienced it before, right?" Minako tried to understand the question, but ultimately could not. Makoto decided to help her out a little bit.

"Okay…did you ever experience a time of day when the world would have this really weird green tint, everyone would turn to coffins, saw pools of blood everywhere, and everything would smell like blood?" Now Minako gets where they are driving at.

"Oh," Minako finally replied, "you mean the Green Hour?"

"Well my friends and I called it the Dark Hour. Same concept. You know it stopped, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Two years ago I believe. How did it end? You seem to know a lot about it."

"Yes, because my parents died in a car accident on the Moonlight Bridge on the night the Dark Hour started. I've been experiencing it for as long as you have. And to answer your question, I put a stop to it." Minako looked rather amazed.

"So wait…how did you actually stop it?"

"You see this golden wall over there?" Makoto pointed to the right of himself, "that is the actual me while the person you are staring at is merely a projection of myself. Same goes with her." He gestured towards Nyx.

"The Dark Hour was where these creatures called Shadows would come out and prey on humans not in their coffins. They attack the mentally weak-minded. I'm assuming yours is quite strong, or you would've been eaten 12 years ago. But that aside, humanity wished for Death and brought about a creature in this dimension to make it happen called Erebus. Since Nyx here is the Goddess of Night and Erebus is the God of Darkness, any contact between the two would result in the end of humanity and the Dark Hour was to facilitate that, first slowly eating humanity away. When the day came for Erebus to make his move, I had to step in and create a barrier between the two, sacrificing my soul in the process. Understand a bit better, now?" Minako looked as if she was going to faint, but nodded in response.

"I guess I should thank you for saving humanity and giving me and the rest of the world a chance to live in peace." Makoto only smiled.

"Good! Now I can't communicate with the outside world while I'm in here, but because you have the same power as I do, just not awakened yet, I am tasking you to find these people and deliver this message. The first one to be warned is Mitsuru Kirijo, since she is the leader of my team. You will find her at the University of Iwatodai, I think. If not, just ask around. After that, please tell a girl named Yukari (ask Mitsuru) that I'm okay and am still waiting for her. I have drafted this letter in anticipation of your arrival that details the message. It details of a great threat that we just learned here in the world, so deliver it as fast as you can. Can you do that for us?" Minako nodded again.

"I'll do my best! But how will I still have the letter if I'm dreaming." Makoto chuckled softly, his hands in his pockets.

"Well, that's because you're not dreaming and this is a state between dream and reality. I assume something will pick you up and send you someplace else." And as he said that, Minako fainted.

She woke up in a room, playing soft piano music. It looked like an office filled with…blue. There were shelves full of books and smaller shelves full of various wines and spirits. There was a chair seated in front of a round table with a chair in front of it and sofas flanking either side. There were occupants in all three chairs. The person in front of her was the most interesting of the three; he was quite elderly donned in a tuxedo, a rose in the front pocket, long white hair in areas where it's not bald, and a nose with seemingly endless length.

'This just feels like I'm in a nightmare…'

The next person was a lady in blue. She reminded Minako of a bellhop. She had a blue cap and a short blue dress that had large gold buttons that went down the center and black lines that traverse the dress. The person sitting on the other couch looked exactly like the lady, but male, wore a blue tux and black slacks. Both were elegant and proper with the way they handled their rather large books they held in their arms. The old man in the center suddenly looked up, his bulging, bloodshot eyes gazing into her. She tensed up rather quickly, unable to move or make a sound.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," the old man spoke, "My name is Igor. Please to make your acquaintance. These two here are my assistants, Elizabeth and Theodore, although Elizabeth is just visiting today as she has other matters to attend to. My other assistant is currently away on an errand; you will meet her in the near future. Theodore is a resident here, like myself." It was then the two stood up from their couches, faced Minako, and bowed. The female spoke first.

"Please to meet you. We will be running into each other often." The male spoke next.

"Pleasure to meet you." It was then the old man spoke again.

"Ah, it seems you have been assigned a task by one of our previous guests. From what I understand, there is a looming danger that nears and could be the end of the world as we know it. The nature of this danger and what it is, I do not know. You must find the others and band together, as one man alone cannot face such a danger. Let us create a contract, in which you will abide to no matter how great the cost." A red notebook appears on the table flipped open to reveal finely printed letters and a signature area at the bottom. Minako read it to herself to make sure she was reading the right thing.

"I, Minako Arisato, hereby take full responsibility of any and all actions I may make, no matter how great the cost." She scanned up and down to see if there was any fine print, finding nothing.

'It seems like a simple contract, but the weight of it is almost unbearable. It looks like I'm the only one that currently has the power to do this. I'll manage somehow.' She took the pen and signed the document at the bottom. Igor took this chance to speak again.

"Only those who have signed the contract can enter this place…Henceforth, you shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room. You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so. I only ask one thing in return...that you abide by the contract and assume responsibility for the choices that you make."

"But that was what was on the contract!"

"Ah…sometimes, others tend to go against what they say and do. A hypocrite, if you will. We do not have a tolerance for that here, so as long as your actions are genuine and you own up to those actions, then you are within your contract. Remember, your world will change around you; it is up to you whether you accept this change or not. We, as the Velvet Room, can only guide you so far." A blue key materializes out of thin air and lands on the table.

"Hold on to this...this will grant you access to the Velvet Room, upon which you will come of your own accord. Time marches on in your world. Til we meet again." Minako blacked out again and woke up in…her own room.

* * *

_Tokyo, Japan – 12:00AM_

It was still out of habit for him to still be up and about at this hour. He stared intently at the TV, waiting for something to happen, although he felt nothing should happen after all that had transpired the past year. His parents, after a year-long absence, had returned from their business overseas for the Kirijo Group. At the stroke of midnight, he felt something vibrate from his right pocket. A blue glow emanated from his pocket, his Velvet Room key. It had seemed the room was active once again, not after a day he had left. This was something he needed to investigate.

* * *

_3/22/2012 – Iwatodai, Japan – Clear Skies_

_10:00AM_

Minako woke up with a massive headache. Light permeated the window next to her queen bed, which looked out to the sea across the street. It was a nice sized room, given the location of the apartment they lived in. There was red everywhere in her room. Her sheet set and pillow were red, her furniture had a red varnish, her TV was a deep red, even the majority of her clothing ranged from red to orange, the only non-red clothing item being her school uniform. She only had one thought in mind, though.

'Was it all just a dream? That had to be the strangest dream I've had, much better than the other ones I had…especially _those_ dreams…' She glanced over to her night stand and saw an object that was never there before: a folded up letter.

'Wait…a dude gave me a letter in the dream. Please tell me this is not the same letter…' She took the hand-written letter and opened it. It read as follows:

_Mitsuru-senpai,_

_It has been two years since I've become the Great Seal. I'm sure you all have moved on in some form or fashion, but I would like to tell you something. I have met Nyx in person as the Great Seal and she seems to be indifferent towards the state of humanity. She never wished for humanity to end, she just wanted to keep the status quo and ensure the peacefulness of our existence. Erebus was the one who wanted to end all humanity, but needed Nyx to bring about the Fall. Regardless, it seems she has powers of sensing things in the dimension I currently reside in. It has been brought to our attention that there is a disturbance that is developing that can jeopardize the state of the universe. Apparently, the persona users and people who harbor the potential are the only ones who can combat it, and this disturbance is targeting persona users at the same time. I need you to warn the others if possible. _

_Also, to prevent the Fall from happening again, we need to figure out a way to keep the seal up, get Nyx and I out of this dimension, keep Erebus at bay when doing so, and stopping this disturbance. Find a girl named Elizabeth for that. Minako Arisato here is the line of communication between here and your dimension. Please don't over-stress her. _

_Your dear friend and comrade,_

_Makoto Yuki_

_P.S: Can you tell Yukari that I'm okay and still waiting for her here? I'll be back in this dimension in no time if this plan goes well._

'So his name is Makoto Yuki and the girl is the Goddess of Night, Nyx...' She put the letter back in her pocket and put on her favorite red sundress. She, apparently, had a lot to do today.

'Okay, so I need to find a person named Mitsuru Kirijo…wait is it the same Kirijo as the one where dad used to work? Wait a second…' She thought about it for a moment and remembered the man with the eye patch. She never got his full name. 'Well, it's time to go for a manhunt…in this case, a woman-hunt.'

"Obasan, I'm going out!"

"Okay, dear! Be back in time for dinner!"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine!" With that, she made her way out the door and into the heart of Iwatodai.

She had memorized the city in and out, back to front, side to side. The University of Iwatodai was one place that could be seen from space; the campus was just that large. It was extremely hard to miss and even had its own network of roads; there was even a freeway that ran through the center of it. The campus and its sheer size had always amazed her, always catching her attention causing her to occasionally space out. As soon as she got past the gate, however, she ran into a woman with long flowing red hair carrying a box full of rather large textbooks…well was carrying it and now strewn across the floor. The woman's intimidating facial expression immediately terrified poor Minako.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, mam! Let me help you pick up your books!" she cried frantically, not wanting to anger the rather intimidating woman in front of her. She was prepared and ready to receive a lashing from this woman when she looked up. The woman's expression softened, but still retained a frown having finished recollecting her box of books.

"It's no problem; I shouldn't be carrying this many books anyways," the woman calmly said. She looked down and saw the letter that Minako had dropped.

"Here, you dropped this," she said, handing Minako the letter. She suddenly gazed at Minako, as if trying to remember something, or someone.

'Where have I seen this girl before? My memories don't serve me well. Maybe a name would do…'

"So, what's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

"…ummm…Minako Arisato. Pleasure to meet you." Minako bowed. The woman's eyes widened, as if she remembered exactly who it was.

'Oh my! It's been so long since I've seen her! 12 years to be exact!'

"Oh, can I help you with anything?" the woman suddenly asked, startling Minako. She thought of something and looked down to the letter.

"Oh!" Minako started, "do you happen to know of a Mitsuru Kirijo? I'm supposed to hand this letter to her." The woman let out a hardy chuckle.

"I may know where to find her. In fact, she might be in front of you as we speak." Minako tilted her head in confusion, question marks floating above her head.

"I'm Mitsuru Kirijo, chairwoman of the Kirijo Group. It's a pleasure to see you, again," Mitsuru bowed.

'Again? I don't remember ever…wait…no, I do remember now! She was the redhead that used to go to all of the company outings when I was 4!'

"What was this letter you're supposed to hand to me?" Mitsuru asked, looking down at the letter.

"Oh…funny story, this letter happened to be handed to me in a dream and I was just simply asked to give it to you. I'm also supposed to find a girl named Yukari Takeba. You wouldn't happen to know where she is, right?" Mitsuru's eyes widened again, and took the letter from Minako. She opened it and read it. Her face hardened and glared at Minako. She tensed up, as a result.

"…how did you get this letter, again?" she said, slowly, with increasing anger in her voice. Mitsuru glared at the letter again. She knew Makoto's signature by heart. It was exactly the same as in all of the official documents she kept of him.

"…I told you, in a dream…" Minako trailed off. Mitsuru knew there was no way Minako, or anyone else in the world could have forged Makoto's signature; it was just too hard to pull off. Still, she glared straight into Minako's eyes.

"You had better not be lying to me because Makoto is one of my most important friends, and if you or anyone else were to have played this sick joke on me or my other friends, you will pay dearly whether or not you were a family friend." Minako sunk deeper into fear, feeling the air grow rather cold for March; she swore she saw an icy breathe coming out of Mitsuru. The pre-execution ritual suddenly stopped when Artemisia suddenly rang in her head, sensing something off about Minako.

'…_she has the potential! And it matches with those of Makoto's!' _Mitsuru's face relaxed and the temperature around them changed back into warmth.

"Minako, please follow me to my office. There is something I would like to discuss with you regarding the letter and about what you have. I also need to make a call to my best friend to meet me up in the office as well…" Minako finally relaxed, having been spared the icy execution of Mitsuru.

"…ummm, okay; would you like help carrying your books?" she offered, trying to be polite.

"…that would be nice…" Mitsuru said as they walked towards the street and spotting a limousine waiting for them. She started to dial her phone as she stepped into the limo.

_"Hello?" _the other line answered. The voice was female and had a tone of cheeriness and optimism, not at all what Minako had envisioned as Mitsuru's best friend.

"Yukari? It's me, Mitsuru. I have some news for you and we have a situation on our hands. Meet me at my office in 20 minutes."

_"Wait! What's going on?!_"

"I've save the explanations for later! Just meet me at my office!"

_"Okay, okay! I'll see yah in a bit." _she hung up the phone. Minako stared on in wonder and confusion. She decided it was best to just wait for more answers.

'What a strange day…and I probably won't be home in time for dinner...' Minako thought as she got into the limo, heading to the Kirijo Group's headquarters.

* * *

**A/N:** As this is not my main project, the updates will be rather slow. Thank you for understanding and please review! I did my best to try to explain the premise behind this project and its many theories. The next chapter will happen _after_ P4: Arena and P4: Ultimax.


	2. The Shadow Life

**A/N: **This chapter was a ton of fun to write (and it took me forever to write this one). There is a lot of back story information and flashbacks, so please pay attention to the dates and locations so you won't get confused. It starts to get more light-hearted towards the second half, but be warned, the first half is pretty heavy on the emotional side. There were some changes I made to the P3 FES ending, so watch out for that. Remember, the majority of this chapter takes place post-Arena.

**WARNING:**** MAJOR SPOILERS IN THIS CHAPTER FOR PERSONA 3 FES AND PERSONA 4 GOLDEN! _YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! _**

Legend:

-_Date__ – W_eather___ – Time_-

_Location_

"Speech"

'Thought'

_"Speech from the other line of the phone"_

_'Persona speech'_

* * *

**Chapter 2 – The Shadow Life**

-_5/8/2012 – Clear Skies_-

_Iwatodai, Japan – Kirijo Tower, Downtown_

Mitsuru Kirijo never had had an easy life. She thought she had seen it all from a hidden 25th hour, to blobs of black that could kill, to seeing a golden wall that held the soul of one of her closest friends in an alternate dimension. For the past 12 years, she held herself responsible for that that happened, all of the consequences, all of the sacrifices made. Still, she ended up at a large oak desk in a large office at the top floor in the tallest skyscraper in Iwatodai, Japan. The Kirijo Tower it was called, constructed three years ago in commemoration of Makoto Yuki, who was bearing the burden of protecting humanity against the Fall, the human darkness represented by Erebus, who wanted to contact Nyx.

She wanted to move on with her life, take control of her father's company, and live normally without the fear of shadows. The world was quiet for a couple years until last year, where a small town was involved in paranormal activity. From the eyes of a commoner, the events that transpired seem like a serial murder with no apparent cause. But for Mitsuru, she knew better than to think of normalcy; she knew there was something at work behind those murders. She had meant to form an Investigation Team with her best friends Akihiko, Yukari, and Fuuka to investigate, but it never got off the ground due to their college life. The murders seemed to have been solved, however, by a rag-tag team of high school students, whom she met during an emergency visit to the area, and had the capabilities of summoning a persona; what she found more surprising was the fact that their leader had the power to summon multiple personas, just like Makoto. That was one strange Golden Week for her.

She was finally able to get a special services group off the ground this past January, just in time for the anniversary of the Promised Day. It was no small feat to convince the Japanese Government to partially support and grant special jurisdiction to paranormal cases. On paper, they were known as the Japanese Department of Paranormal Investigative Services. But informally and to each other, they were known as the Shadow Ops. Their mission: to investigate and combat shadows and/or other paranormal activities. So far, the majority of what was the Nyx Annihilation Team are part-time agents. The only full-time agents were herself, Akihiko, Fuuka, Aigis, the newly resurrected Labrys, several more recovered and new Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons, and the newly recruited high school student Minako Arisato. Then there were the administrative, legal, finance, and other corporate bodies that manage the team.

She continued to replay the events that had taken place the previous week in the quiet town of Yasoinaba, which was four hours away by train at the slope of Mt. Yasogami. The transport of Labrys from the storage facility in Kyoto to Iwatodai via aircraft was going according to plan…until the flight got hijacked, and Labrys' container falling overboard. Then she, Detective Naoto Shirogane whom accompanied them, Akihiko, and Aigis end up in a strange tournament inside of a TV where they were pitted against each other, not to mention along the local Investigation Team that closed the serial murder case (whom Shirogane was a part of), while attempting to retrieve Labrys. She was grateful she made Arisato stay behind since this operation put herself and the rest of the team in danger. Sure they were able to retrieve Labrys back, but it did not end there.

Merely a day later, Mitsuru and her team revisited the town to perform any further investigations, only to be ambushed, knocked out, and crucified. They had to enlist the help of Labrys and the Investigation Team again in order to find out who was behind this. All she remembered was a red-haired teen with an x-pattern scar on his face wielding dual katanas, a tournament just like the day before, and nothing more beyond those two things. Still, they all were rescued and she finds herself today staring at a file that should have been opened long ago. The file was titled: The Serial Murders of Yasoinaba.

Ever since Mitsuru had gotten the strange letter from Makoto, she tasked herself to find a girl named Elizabeth. From what she understood talking to Aigis, Elizabeth, Makoto, and Aigis were part of some room and group called the "Velvet Room", which dealt with people who harbor a special kind of potential. It was something one was born with, not brought out or developed. This meant Makoto's family was special before they passed on 12 years ago. She remembered the night where she was pulled into a strange dream of black.

-_4/10/2012 – Cloudy Skies_-

_Dream-state_

The floor she stood upon seemed like there was no floor, just stars that shined above, below, and all around her. There was no sense of hot or cold, no sense of air; she could not figure for her life how she was able to breathe in this world, but she remembered it was a dream, or she thought it was a dream. She has not moved from her spot, fearing she would only get more lost than she already was. But to stay would be to die without doing anything, so she started to walk forward. She kept walking for what seemed like eternity until she saw a change in color from the usual blackness. A mist started to form and the surroundings began to take on a yellow hue. Before long, she stood in front of a familiar giant wall. Looking the wall over, she sees the center, causing tears to well up. An imprint of a young man with a distinct haircut holding back the wall filled the center of this wall. Mitsuru stared at it for what seemed to be eternity.

'Damn it, Makoto…first my father, and now you. I wished it weren't so…'

"Ah, but that can be fixed," a voice called out from nowhere. This sudden voice spooked Mitsuru quite a bit, so much that she yet out a rather audible yelp. She looked around in panic to find the source, but failed. Artemisia tried to follow up, but failed as well. Suddenly, loud footsteps can be heard walking towards her. It seemed the person was wearing boots or heals based on the way she heard each step hit the ground multiple times. But the footsteps drew nearer and nearer. She subconsciously reached to her right side for her rapier, only to feel thin air. The footsteps got louder and louder a form slowly took shape out of the shadows. A human arm materialized out of the darkness followed by a slender body covered in a sleeveless velvet blue tunic and black, high-heeled boots. Her face then appeared out of the shadows with golden eyes, golden hair, and a velvet blue cap not unlike elevator attendants. In other words, this was a beautiful young woman adorned velvet blue bell hop wear. But Mitsuru quickly snapped out of it and asked the most crucial question that the situation could ask for.

"You," she pointed at the lady in blue, "where the hell am I and how did I get here?" The woman giggled with her eyes closed.

"I'm not joking around here! Where the hell am I and how did I get here?" The woman seemed to have regained her composure and opened her eyes, folding her left hand across her chest and propping her right arm on it to stand freely and twirl her hand about.

"Well, you were looking for me, right?" Mitsuru's eyes widened. She was looking for someone. Just how did this woman read her mind?!

"…well I was looking for a woman named Elizabeth…" She paused for a second to think about the description in the letter Makoto wrote. He did not even give her a description of what she looked like. The woman in blue giggled again.

"Well you found her. She's somewhere in this very room…" Mitsuru started to seethe in anger and impatience. This woman was clearly getting on her nerves.

"Just answer the damn question! I don't know where I am and how you can read my mind. Just. Answer. The. Damn. Question!"

"Very well then. I am Elizabeth, the person whom you seek. This dimension is called the Sea of Souls, or the Collective Subconscious, which you have been pulled into via a dream-state. The thoughts of all living beings are resonated in this place, which is why you can hear your thoughts. The residents of this place, such as myself, Makoto, Nyx, and other godly beings who reside here can hear all of the human's race thoughts and feel their emotions. It may seem strange, but we have learned to tune most of them out, only choosing to hear what we want to hear. Visitors, like yourself, do not hear other's thoughts unless they are physically present with them. Don't ask me why it's this way; it just is. I'm assuming you have business to conduct with me?" Mitsuru became pensive. She was apparently in another dimension in the form of a dream in front of the Great Seal and talking to a woman in clad blue whom claims herself to be the Elizabeth she was looking for.

"Okay. Seeing that you claim yourself to be the Elizabeth I am looking for, you wouldn't happen to know of this "Velvet Room", would you?"

"Alas, I was a resident there two years ago, then I went on a journey to figure out how to replace the Seal so our dear friend can live once more. I assume his body is still intact?" Mitsuru thought of where Makoto's body was. Then it hit her; she forgot to visit him today at the Tatsumi Port Island Hospital. She remembered the day when he suddenly passed out on Aigis' lap, failing to wake up. It was graduation day where they were all supposed to meet at the rooftop, or so they remembered mid-speech…

* * *

-_3/5/2010_ – _Clear Skies-_

_Iwatodai, Japan – Gekkoukan High School, Port Island District_

Aigis was already up on the roof with Makoto, he looking a lot paler than usual. By the time they all remembered, it was too late. Mitsuru remembered throwing the roof's door open to find Aigis cradling Makoto's limp body at the ledge, tears flowing. Everyone there, smiles on their faces, looked at the crying android as they looked down to see the limp body. Slowly, the smiles of each person there flipped 180 degrees, beginning with Yukari. At least she did not stand still like the rest of the group, whose jaw could only drop. She ran over to where Aigis was standing and began to freak out.

"Hey…he's just sleeping right? I mean he looked really, really tired this morning. Please tell me he's just sleeping…," Yukari pleaded as she looked down at his peaceful, sleeping form, "Makoto…I know you need your rest, but we're all here. We remembered everything! We promised to meet each other here on graduation day! Please tell me you just closed your eyes to take a quick nap! I know you love sleeping, but…" She felt a hand on her shoulder. Mitsuru had walked up beside her and knelt down. She hovered her hand over his mouth and could feel very soft, very slow breaths. Aigis grabbed his wrist at the same time.

"He has a very, very weak pulse. We need to get him to the emergency room right away!" Aigis shouted.

"Right! I'll call the ambulance!" Mitsuru yelled, "Akihiko and Iori! Guard the door to the roof and make sure no one gets through. We'll have to call Life-Flight." She furiously took out her phone and dialed 911.

"Hello? This is Mitsuru Kirijo. We have one male that had passed out and has a very weak pulse that is dropping fast. We need a helicopter to transport him to the nearest hospital. Don't worry about the insurance information; he is covered by the Kirijo Group. His pulse is dropping. Please hurry."

Within 5 minutes, there was the sound of an approaching helicopter closing in on the island fast. It touched down on the school's court yard and a pair of paramedics jumped out with a stretcher. Takeba waved down the paramedics, signaling they were on the roof, as they ran inside. By this time, the entire school lined the hallways from the auditorium to see what the commotion was about. Familiar faces got front row views of the running stretcher up the stairs. Once the paramedics came up to the roof, they opened the door to find it barred.

"Hey! Paramedics, here! Open Up!" Akihiko and Junpei let go of the door and the two paramedics rushed the android.

"Mam, I need to see the victim," the lead paramedic ordered, "newbie! Help me lift him onto the stretcher!" After they had lifted him onto the stretcher, they ran back down to the crowd of students. The lead paramedic pulled out his megaphone.

"Listen up! I need everyone to clear a path so we can get this teen to the hospital. Thank you!" The crowd began to form a rift large enough for the paramedics and the group to run through the main hallway. They all took a look at who was in the stretcher. Several gasps could be heard from the crowd.

"Oh, no! Makoto!" yelled Chihiro, who caught a full glimpse of the lifeless bluenette. This drew attention to other people.

"Hang in there, dude!" Kenji yelled from the other side of the line.

"Stay strong, dude! I believe in yah!" Kazushi and Yuko yelled together. A bunch of other voices joined in support for Makoto as he was rushed outside. Mitsuru talked to the faculty witnessing the event and requested the student body remain inside the school while he was being transported. The teachers nodded and barred the students inside. Mitsuru ran back to the helicopter where they were lifting him in. The lead paramedic turned to her.

"Mam, we need someone to ride with him to the hospital. Are you going to ride with him?" Mitsuru turned to Yukari, who nodded, and then faced the rest of the group. "Alright, Yukari and I will go on the helicopter and the rest of you will meet us at Tatsumi Port Island Hospital, got it?" They all nodded.

"Alright. Move out!"

At the hospital, the group met up outside room 234B, the room where Makoto first stayed after his first awakening. Mitsuru and Yukari walked out of the room, both sullen and tear-stained (well…on Yukari's part).

"How's he doing?" Akihiko asked, ready for the worst possible news.

"He said that he's fallen into a deep coma and may never wake up. He sealed Nyx, but collapsed…how and why…" Mitsuru responded with a rather heavy uncertainty. "All we can do now is to hope for his eventual recovery. It maybe weeks, months, or years; we'll just have to have faith." Everyone nodded and retreated to the dorm in silence. They all had moved out the next day, again in silence. No one spoke to each other for the remainder of the month, wherever they were…until time stopped.

-_3/31/2010 – Clear Skies_-

_Iwatodai, Japan – Iwatodai Dormitory, Marina District_

Mitsuru decided there was not much use for the dorms since everyone had decided to move out. There was little to no doubt after what had transpired over the past year, cumulating with the sacrifice of one of her closest friends, that no one would want to speak to each other. Still, that did not stop her from trying to get everyone together. At least she and Akihiko still saw each other on a weekly basis, just never bringing up the topic about shadows, the Dark Hour, and Makoto. But still, she tried to get everyone together for one last party before she shuts down the dorm.

To say everyone was happy to see each other was the biggest overstatement made all year. Yukari was the most opposed, and vocal, about meeting at all. It did not get any better when they all found they were stuck in a time loop with a rogue Anti-shadow Suppression Weapon even Mitsuru did not know existed. As they trekked lower into the Abyss of Time, as they call it, they collected keys while unlocking everyone's past of why they joined SEES in the first place, not the most pleasant experience she had. It all came down to the last key where they saw a shadow of Makoto, as Metis explained it, that was born from all of them. He battled the entire team using exact copies of their personas and even had his own moves thrown in. But they got the last key, the key of time…and all hell broke loose.

Everyone had their own ideals of what to do. Mitsuru found herself going alongside Yukari, not because they had the same ideals, but she would support Yukari as she supported her in her time of need. So they all fought against each other for the keys. Eventually, Aigis won the keys and chose to move forward through the final door. What they saw then was a repeat of what happened two months prior. They learned from Metis that he sacrificed his soul and most of his life essence to compose the giant, golden wall that stood before them. But if Nyx did not need to be sealed at all, then what was he protecting Nyx against? That answer was given with a deafening roar behind them.

When all was said and done, they had defeated Erebus, the accumulation of human malice. It was the being that was representative of all mankind. It must have taken thousands of years to get that strong. Human malice was not going away, but they will have to hope that Makoto can hear them with their support. They will help him bear the burden, even if it takes a thousand years to do it.

-_4/10/2012_-

_Dream-state_

"Yes, he is still in a deep coma. The Group has been supporting his care for the past two years. Now, how do you suppose we go about fixing this?"

"Ah," Elizabeth giggled, "if I remember correctly, the Seal is comprised of his soul and his life essence. If we can somehow gather the amount of life essence that equals his, it should override the requirement of one persons' soul and life essence. I don't want to have to sacrifice anyone to this fate. Maybe we can find this solution together."

-_5/8/2012_-

Mitsuru figured she would open the file tomorrow. She had to call Detective Shirogane anyways for her insight on the case. After all, she looked at her iPhone.

'18:30…what a long day…' she mused while slowly succumbing to an exhausted trance. She stared up into the ceiling, not caring of the fading light from the window. She sat like this for another five minutes until her phone rang. She looked at the ID of the one whom dared startled her out of her blissful ignorance.

'Akihiko…I guess he wants dinner…' "Akihiko…why are you disturbing me at this hour?"

"_Ohhh…forgot today was your long day at work. Ummm…just wanted to see if you wanted to go out and eat. C'mon, it's your birthday!" _Mitsuru thought about it for a moment until her stomach growled; she figured she had not eaten anything after 11:30 this morning, so it would not hurt to join her best friend for dinner and celebrate her birthday, although she did not really care much for it. It was not like it was a date or anything, right? It was just her birthday…

* * *

-_Earlier that day_-

_Gekkoukan High School_

A certain grey-haired student was walking to the monorail station, contemplating all that took place in the past month he has lived here…

To say he was surprised was an understatement. Yu Narukami had never dreamed of getting transferred here in all his life. His parents were the type to move around, establishing new branches, and overseeing acquisitions for the Kirijo Group. He moved around a lot in his life, and picked up a few languages as a result. There was something about Japan that the other countries do not have, like its unique culture, its social etiquette, or the emphasis on education. Maybe it just felt like home. He has lived in Japan for most of his life, only living oversees in maybe a sixth of the times he has moved. In either of those times, he did not enjoy being oversees. Still, he never imagined moving to Iwatodai, of all places.

In all of the places he has moved, there were never many lasting friendships; he barely made friends at all in America and Europe. They all passed him off as the "Genius FOB who can't speak worth a damn." Those memories still make him shudder to this day. He had the impression that he could just finish high school, erase everything, and start off with a clean slate in college; he could live on his own and stay put. All those visions of starting over came to an abrupt halt after his experience living away from his parents and with his uncle and cousin in a small town called Yasoinaba.

He moved there for the past year since his parents, Kyousuke and Kirino Narukami, went to Australia to open up a new branch for the Kirijo Group, which would have taken the entire year. Yu was not too thrilled about it and made the case to his parents that he wanted to take a break from moving out of the country. The past two times did not sit well with him. He last lived in Tokyo, where Kyousuke's main office is, which was oddly away from the headquarters in Iwatodai. But aside that point, his days in Inaba were his best days. He met all sorts of good people: a clumsy pervert from the city like he was who was the heir to the local Junes; an amateur martial artist who really does fight like one, no hands; a shy, tall girl who was the heiress to the local inn, whom he quickly found out had a hidden fury when provoked; a muscle-head who was just as soft and very nimble with his fingers; a young detective who wished she was a guy; a talking teddy bear who would never seem to shut up and hit on anything that had a pair of legs; and a retired teen idol that seemingly captured his heart, and not subtly either. There were others, too, but all was the same: he never wanted to leave that town. He enjoyed the excitement from the events that transpired and the unbreakable bonds he has forged. But he found himself moved from Tokyo again, this time to a grand apartment in the Marina District of Iwatodai, courtesy of Ms. Kirijo.

Yu remembered the day he started at Gekkoukan, April 9th. He was to complete his third year at this gigantic school. The superstructure intimidated him as he stared up at its magnificent form. The entire school was carved out of marble, which gave it a white glow under the morning sun. It was just this past Friday he moved here. He remembered Kyousuke's words while they were unpacking boxes. It was just a few since they tend to move around a lot.

"Yu. I know you're tired of moving, but just hang in there for one more year and you won't have to move anymore. I know you made some great friends this past year while staying with Uncle Ryo. We're only a couple hours away by train, so your mother and I will let you go visit them. Is that alright with you?"

"Yeah. Thanks for understanding."

"Good, now let's finish unpacking; you have school Monday." Yu looked at Kyousuke suspiciously.

"Where, might I ask, am I attending school?" Kyousuke held up a pamphlet with a familiar seal. "Wait…that school?! I toured that one this past year with my other high school!"

"So you've been there before. Good! You have a scholarship there. Should be very refreshing for you!" Kyousuke laughed while patting his son on the back.

Yu stepped forward into the building and looked around. It was busy, it was moving, and worst of all, it was loud. Yu was never a fan of overly loud places. Inaba was a nice, welcomed change; even the high school was relatively quiet, even though some of the teachers could never seem to shut their trap. He looked at the roster and found his name under the third years. His classroom was Class 3-D and his homeroom teacher was…

"…Mrs. Watanabe…hmmmm…I should go to the office for this…" Yu went up to a random female student to ask for directions to the Faculty Office. This random female student happen to have auburn hair tied up in a bun with a red neck-strap MP3 player and a pair of red clip-on earphones.

"…hi…uhhh…would you happen to know where the Faculty Office is?" he asked hesitantly. This was usually the case as he moved school. Any confidence he had the prior year got reset to zero, new environment, new faces, new everything.

"Yeah! It's over there to the left and the second door to the left!"

"Thanks…uhhh…"

"Minako. Minako Arisato. What's yours?"

"I'm Yu Narukami. Thank you, Arisato-san. Please take care of me this year," Yu formally said and bowed.

"No problem! You might want to head there now if you dun wanna be late!"

"Thanks." Yu flipped himself in the other direction and walked down the hallway. It was much quieter here, so he began to reorganize his thoughts.

'So not less than 5 minutes in this school and I've met somebody. Whoo hoo! … and wait…she suspiciously sounds a lot like Rise…and where have I seen her before…' He stopped at the door to the faculty office and cautiously opened it. There was a lone teacher waiting inside. When she turned around, he caught a good glimpse of her; needless to say, his eyes dilated and his jaw dropped.

Standing before him was a 168 cm (5'6") beauty with neatly straight, dark brown hair cut to the shoulders in a form of a bob and two gorgeous brown eyes accentuated by mascaraed eyelashes. Her beige suit covered her pink shirt which tightly caressed her upper body. In other words, Yu was looking at a goddess. She eyed him and gave him full attention.

'And I'm in soooo much trouble with Rise if she finds out about this…'

"Ah! You must be Yu Narukami. I'm Emiri Watanabe, your homeroom teacher. I've just recently come back to teaching at this school since my husband decided to move back here to Iwatodai. Speaking of moving, you've moved a lot, haven't you?" Yu nodded. "Ah…well let's get to the morning assembly; I'd doubt we want to be late for that." And thus, started Yu's final year at Gekkoukan High School.

All was well during the first month. Yu was the type to easily grasp concept and apply them, earning the respect of the entire student body and staff. He was also athletically inclined from basketball and the TV World. When he found out there was no basketball team, he opted for Kendo due to the training he had slaughtering shadows. He was constantly texting Rise and Yosuke after school to see what was up back home, or what he considered home. Rise was still going to Yasogami High School, apparently, until her career can be solidified. She had temporarily joined the Music Club, now led by fellow classmate Ayane and plays the violin (who knew she could do that?!). Yosuke was slowly moving up the ranks at Junes and now manages the Produce Department. Yukiko was preparing to take over the inn, but wants to go to college first to get a Hotel and Restaurant Management degree to earn credibility. Chie wants to become a police officer, to the point of training every day. Kanji was preparing to take up the family textile business, and is doing a lot better in school no thanks to Naoto. She is still bouncing around cases travelling to and from Inaba. Yu still can't figure out how she manages her school time and work…and tutoring Kanji at the same time!

Yu and Minako were in the same class together, so naturally, they sat next to one another (there was a seat conveniently open next to her). She showed him the ropes and what to do around the school, and occasionally hung out with him at the station or the mall if she did not have tennis practice that day, or so she says. Yu found that she would always disappear after class and never hear from her again until very late at night. All was well, until his trip back to Inaba during Golden Week.

Yu's Golden Week was less than normal to say the least. He always kept his glasses with him where ever he went, just as a safety measure. Twice he had to enter the TV with his friends to rescue his other friends who fell in, including Rise, who went missing the night before he came back. Some strange tournament was in progress in which he was forced to participate, going against all of his friends. He met one strange character named Labrys, who proclaimed to be the Yasogami Student Council President, who turned out to be a robot. He met others like another robot named Aigis, the President of the Kirijo Group, and what appears to be a physically built vagabond in a red cape…who seemed really close to said President. Strangely, he felt like he remembered the President from somewhere, not because of the name, but because he felt he somehow met her before, but could not place how, when, and why.

The craziness did not end there. Just as he and Yosuke announced investigating this "Malevolent Entity", power goes out and fog covers Inaba yet again, this time red instead of yellow. He had to go in and save the Shadow Ops again, this time meeting a scar-faced, dual katana-wielding douche who, for some reason, hates the living crap out of him. This douche claimed to be the "perfect vessel" for the Malevolent Entity, only to be defeated. It turns out he was also a robot. This was how he spent his Golden Week…in chaos.

* * *

_-5/9/2012 – Cloudy Skies_-

_Kirijo Tower, Downtown_

It was early morning when Mitsuru stepped foot in her office. She was rather thankful that her classes were mostly at night and some were online. She was progressing rather rapidly through her courses and could graduate early. She sat down at her desk with a cup of earl grey tea, her favorite to start the morning. Still staring at her, was the file of the Inaba Serial Murder Case. She opened it and looked through the documents, noting every witness' testimonies and the suspects' confessions. There were pictures to accompany each victim and had a "missing persons" section with their pictures and names as well. Terms used were those all too familiar to her, like "personas" and "shadows"…and "TV World".

'Wait…these names look familiar…~gasp!~' Mitsuru went bug-eyed at the notion that those people listed were the ones she met during her trip to Inaba; they could use personas and are very high-leveled. She noticed the official investigator was Detective Naoto Shirogane, another persona user. Looks like she had a call to make…

_Yasoinaba, Japan – Yasogami High School_

Naoto had not expected Mitsuru to call so soon. It was around lunchtime when her phone rang out of the blue. She was at the school's rooftop enjoying her daily lunch with Rise and Kanji.

"Sooo…who's that Naoto? Some secret boyfriend of yours that's also a detective?" Rise teased, and then looked at the phone again, "…wait, is that Mitsuru-san?! Pick it up!" Naoto did just that.

"This is Detective Shirogane. How may I help you?"

"_Ah, Shirogane-san. I need to speak with you on a very important matter regarding this past year's serial murder case that took place in your town. When are you able to meet?"_

"Oh…I understand your enthusiasm, Kirijo-san, but why, may I ask, are you looking into this?"

"_That is of my personal resolution. I would just like to speak with you to understand what happened? I will pay you for your services as well as provide you with lodging and dining."_

"Ah. This Sunday will work for me. What time am I to be expected?"

"_11:00, sharp. Shall I have transportation provided to the meeting location?"_

"Uh, yes; that would be great."

"_Très bien! I shall see you at Chagall Café Sunday at 11:00. You will be here Saturday night staying at the Water Towers, Iwatodai. Transportation will pick you up at 20:15 sharp. I have already purchased your train ticket, which will leave at 18:00."_

"Ah, thank you, Kirijo-san." Rise, who was listening in, wanted in.

"HEY! I want to go, too!" she yelled, loud enough to be heard by Mitsuru on the other side.

"Rise-chan! This is business! Don't you have anything better to do?!" Naoto growled back.

"Well, I wanted to see Yu and my parents…so this is a perfect excuse to go!"

"Didn't you see him during Golden Week?"

"But I was trapped half the time and only got to hang out with him for a day at most…"

"_Ahem…I assume you are with the rest of the Investigation Team?"_

"…yes, Kirijo-san…although just with the ones in my year."

"_Ah, good. From what I understand, there are three of you at this moment. I will provide lodgings for the three of you."_

"You don't have to, Kirijo-san."

"_But I insist! And have all three of you meet with me and my team; we shall go over this together."_

"Thank you, Kirijo-san. We will see you this Sunday. Good bye."

"_Good bye."_ And the line disconnected. Naoto glared at her two friends. Rise giggled back while Kanji remained as cross as ever.

"Whaddayah lookin' at me for, Naoto? I didn't say nothin'!"

"First of all, it's 'I didn't say anything', and second, you didn't back me up!"

"Oh…well, in truth, I kinda wanted to go with yah. Like a nice weekend out, right?"

"~sigh~ Okay! You two better be at the station at 17:45 Saturday because that's when our train leaves. If you don't make it, I'm leaving you two. Got it?" They both nodded. This was going to be an interesting weekend, indeed.

_Iwatodai, Japan_ – _Kirijo Tower, Downtown_

Mitsuru continued to glance over the files when she ran across a name which piqued her interest.

"Yu Narukami…hmmmm…he seems to never stay in one spot. He has moved around a lot, which bring me to wonder…where is he now? Wait…isn't he the son of two of my executives?"

"I think I know where he is." A voice came from the door of her office. She yelped and looked up to find Minako, staring back at her with two cups of tea.

"Oh? Do tell."

"If this is the same Yu Narukami that goes to high school with me, then yes, I know where he is."

"Describe his appearance."

"Tall, grey hair, bowl cut, walks around with this air of confidence although he doesn't really have any."

"Ah, yes; that would be Narukami-san. That being said, I have a mission for you." Minako's eyes widened at the thought of a mission.

"I need you to watch Narukami-san at all times. Make sure that nothing harms him. Watch over him. Report any irregular behavior to me."

"So you want me to spy on my friend?"

"In a sense, yes; we need him to be ready to fight whatever is going to come next according to that letter. He is the only one that can use multiple personas well at this point."

"Ummm…okay."

"Thank you. We will continue our training tomorrow afternoon when you don't have tennis club." Minako walked back out in deep thought.

Over the past month and a half, she had been receiving training from Mitsuru, Aigis, and Akihiko on how to evoke and use her persona. To their surprise, it was the female version of Makoto's main persona, Eurydice. It had the same body and face, just the hair was longer and down to the mid-back, and the lyre was heart-shaped. Her persona mainly dealt ice attacks where Makoto's handled fire, but their move sets where virtually identical. Mitsuru handled training her due to her persona's forte in ice attacks. She would get to see battle sometime in the future, but her mission at the present was none other than befriending Yu Narukami.

* * *

-_5/12/2012 – Clear Skies_-

_Yasoinaba, Japan_

Rise was packing all of her belongings into boxes, bags, and luggage. She had recently received a call the day after her, Naoto, and Kanji were planning the trip to Iwatodai from Reita Inoue, her former manager, that she was cleared to have a record deal and her work was to be centered there. She needed to be at the record label on the 15th to sign the contract and her work starts on the 20th with the meeting of various producers for her comeback album. Rise decided it was best to move back to Iwatodai so she would not have to travel far to the recording studio. She remembered the tearful goodbyes she received from all of her classmates earlier today, none more so than Chie, Yosuke, Teddie, and Yukiko.

"Don't worry, guys; I'll come back and visit often. I may even drag Yu with me since he's also living up there!" she reassured the Investigation Team. But here she was, the movers already gone this afternoon, with her luggage of what she will be needing for the weekend. She had already called her parents that her belongings should be at the apartment by the next day and to unpack it without her, and that she was going to spend the weekend with her best friends (of course she left out the part of meeting the President of the Kirijo Group).

"Well," Rise said cheerfully, "let's begin this weekend!" And they all hopped aboard the train.

_Iwatodai, Japan – Iwatodai Central Station, Downtown_

It was around 8:00pm when the train pulled to the large station. Kanji looked around at the amount of people entering and exiting the trains to who knows where. It was much different from the countryside, what he was used to. He was used to everything being so dead, not lively like this; it gave him a massive headache.

"C'mon, guys; the longer I stay here, the worse the headache gets."

"While I whole-heartedly agree with you, Kanji-kun, our transportation isn't here yet. Please be patient," Naoto calmly said, which instantly calmed down Kanji. It was always this dynamic between the two teens. Kanji would blow up and Naoto would be there to calm him down. If she was not there, then Rise would be the sedative; it was not effective as Naoto, though. It was also true with the inverse, although it was very rare to see Naoto blow up. Suddenly, a long, black limousine pulls up to the driveway. The chauffer steps out and addresses the group.

"You must be Shirogane-san."

"Yes, I am."

"Would you and your party step in. I will handle any luggage you may have." Kanji, Rise, and Naoto handed each their bags as the chauffer places them in the trunk and gets back into the car. Once everyone was situated, he began his announcement.

"Good evening! My name is Masashi Kubo, your chauffeur for the next couple days. I will be driving you to the Water Towers Hotel and Resort where you will be meeting Ms. Kirijo, Mr. Sanada, Ms. Arisato, and Mr. Narukami for dinner."

"Ooooo!" Rise exclaimed, "sounds like an exciting evening!" She took a few seconds to register the last name in her mind. "Wait? Yu's gonna join us for dinner?!"

They zoomed off towards the Marina District, which was about 15 minutes from the station.

_The Water Towers, Marina District_

Rise, Naoto, and Kanji stared out the window in wonder. In front of them stood twin skyscrapers that seemed to go up to the sky with no limits. The courtyard in front of the driveway had a large statue of Atlas, carrying what seems to be the world on his shoulders. Fountains circle the statue as they danced to the sounds and music of Mozart. Palm trees line the courtyard and flowers litter the gardens that were dispersed around. All of this opened up to the harbor across the street. This was the definition of a 5-Star hotel. The limo came to a stop and the chauffeur opened the trunk to retrieve their belongings.

"Alright, here are your belongings. Please check into your rooms. Dinner is at 21:00 at the Chama Gaucha restaurant in the lobby. The attire is casual, but try dress as business-like as possible. I will see you three in the morning. Have a good evening!" Kanji panicked at the thought of having to dress nice.

"Shit, shit, SHIT! Please tell me the driver dude is kidding and I can wear my usual stuff."

"No, he is not kidding," Naoto responded, "that's why I helped you pack and sneaked some button down shirts and slacks. I knew we were going to a very nice restaurant. I happen to pack a business suit, myself."

"Oooooo! I packed a dress!" Rise shouted, destroying whatever was left of Kanji's ear drums.

"Of course you did. When aren't you wearing something fashionable?" Naoto grinned. They all went to the reception desk and got their keys. Their room was on the 45th floor, Room 4515. They had to take an elevator that skipped the first 40 floors. When they reached their floor, it was quite clear how nice of a hotel this was. The floor was entirely marble as was the ceiling. The walls where coated in a very warm beige to match the shades of brown of the floor and ceiling. The architecture was very modern, sporting geometric shapes for the ceiling and light fixtures. They kept walking down the hall to find their room, which was at the very end of the hall, signaled by double doors. Naoto had the key card and was ready to open it.

"So I have a feeling that this is going to be an over-the-top room with a whole bunch of fancy shit like flat screen TV's, water beds, jacuzzis, and shit," Kanji mused.

"We'll see," Naoto replied as she inserted the key card and opened the right side. Kanji was not wrong when they saw the inside, and he immediately dropped his bags. Rise, being used to stardom, was not at all shocked. Naoto, however, fainted with the key card still in hand. Inside, the door opened up to a very large living area with the most modern furniture one could find. There was a large 84" Sony XBR 4K TV at the very center with a 4K Blu-Ray DVD player. There was a full bar to the left, as well as a kitchen, fridge, and utensils. To the right of the door, there were two large rooms that shared a bathroom. In other words…

"…how the hell could Mitsuru-san afford this?!" Rise quietly shouted. Kanji knelt down to shake Naoto awake, in which she jumped to her feet less than a second later.

"Well, she is the head of the Kirijo Group. Money does fly far. Now let's get changed into some nice clothes. I don't think we should be having our company wait long…" Naoto said as they all went inside.

_-Earlier that day_-

Yu was walking with Minako out from school when her phone suddenly rang. She looked down and saw it was Mitsuru calling.

"Hello?"

"_Ah, Arisato-san. Is Narukami with you?"_

"Uh…yes?"

"_Good. Can I speak with him, please?"_

"Sure. Hold on." She looked over at Yu. "Hey, Yu-kun; Mitsuru-senpai wants to talk to you." Yu's eyes went wide.

'How did she know I was here and why does she want to talk to me? This is really weird…' "Okay." She handed the phone over to Yu, who began conversing with Mitsuru in earnest.

"Hello, Mitsuru-san."

"_Good afternoon, Narukami-san. I'm calling to cordially invite you to dinner at Chama Gaucha at the Water Towers Hotel and Resort. Would you mind joining us?"_

'Whoa…a fancy dinner at a 5-Star hotel? I don't know if I'm ready for this…'

"_I suspect that our guests would like to meet you. Also, it's a free dinner. Do you really feel the need to pass this up?"_

"Okay, I'll go. Just let me call my parents first."

"_Très bien! I shall see you at 21:00. I will send a chauffeur to pick you up from your apartment at 20:45. I know where you live since your parents work for me, anyways. Wear business-casual."_

'Okaaaay…this is just way too weird. But free dinner? I'm game.' "Will do. Thank you." Yu gave the phone back to Minako.

"_Arisato-san, you are also invited to tonight's dinner. I'll have Narukami's chauffeur pick you up. And wear business-casual."_

"Okay. Thanks Mitsuru-senpai!"

"_Good bye."_ The line disconnected and the two teens looked at each other as they got onto the monorail. Both were silent throughout the whole ride back.

"Sooo…you got any plans tonight?" Minako asked. Yu was in deep thought about something.

"Yup. I definitely got plans tonight."

"Ahhh…well, I'll go this way."

"And I'll go that way." and the two teens got ready for the evening.

_-8:40pm-_

A black Rolls-Royce Phantom pulled up to Yu's apartment, which was visible from his window. To say he was shocked was saying the least. He continued to stare at it until he heard a knock on his apartment door.

"I got it!" Kyousuke yelled from the floor below. He opened the door to find a gentleman dressed in a suit and tie, an ear piece, and white gloves.

"Good evening, Narukami-san. I'm here to pick up Yu-san." His father looked at him inquisitively.

"Hey, Yu! I think your ride is here! Wherever you're going."

"Thanks, Dad!" Yu yelled as he ran down the stairs. Kirino also met them at the front door and eyed her son in a black button-down dress shirt, black slacks, and dress shoes. In turn, Yu looked at the man and woman. The man had a neatly cut set of grey hair that was professionally combed, like a business man. He was well built, much like Yu, and was just as tall. He was deemed taller than the average Japanese man. The woman had a lock of golden hair that reached past her shoulders. She might as well looked as if she was still in high school. She was of average height for a Japanese woman. Both were still dressed in professional wear. Both eyed their son as he was walking out the door.

"And where are you going?" Kirino asked, eying her son suspiciously. Yu laughed hesitantly.

"Hehehe…Mitsuru-san invited me out for dinner. We met a week ago and she wants to talk about stuff." Kyousuke went wide-eyed, spitting out the drink he was drinking.

"Like my boss Mitsuru?!" Kyousuke exclaimed.

"I believe so…she did mention that you both work for her…"

"Oh man! Well, I wish you luck son! May the charm of Narukami bring you all the luck in the world!" Yu face-palmed himself. "Oh…and try to look good. This is my boss we're talking about."

"Don't worry, Dad. I already have a girlfriend and she just wants to talk!" Yu yelled out, slipping that he had a girlfriend in the process. Kirino caught this, unfortunately.

"My son has a girlfriend?" Yu started sweating.

"Ummm…yes? I gotta go! I'm late!" Yu ran out the door just in time to escape his mother's inquisition. It was like this every time she thinks he has a girlfriend, since he always manages to "get the girls".

The Phantom sped down the coast to another apartment building where it stopped. Yu got confused since he thought he was the only passenger. He saw the chauffer go up to the door and out walked a nicely dressed Minako Arisato in a cute, little black dress and heels. Yu was beyond stunned. There was one thought going through his head at the moment.

'Please don't let Rise find out. Please don't let Rise find out. Please don't let Rise find out…'

Soon, they were on their way to the hotel where they met Mitsuru and Akihiko outside. Mitsuru was wearing a dark red dress with only one strap to the left shoulder, red heels, and a dark red hand bag. Akihiko was dressed in what appears to be a white dress shirt, black tie, velvet-red vest, black slacks, and dress shoes. They both waited at the restaurant's entrance.

"Good evening, you two," Mitsuru greeted, "we shall wait for our other guests to come down." At that moment, the elevator bell rang and out walked three people he did not expect to see, namely a tall bleach-blonde male in a white short-sleeve button down and khaki pants, a very short blue-haired girl that would be easily mistaken for a boy if not the absence of her bindings, and a certain twin-pigtailed red-head he was not supposed to see until summer break.

"…Rise?!"

"…Yu?!" They both ran up to each other and embraced, ending with a short kiss. Minako winced at the scene.

'So he's going out with Risette…damn…oh well! I can find other cute guys!'

"Hey, Senpai!" the other two greeted.

"Now that we're all here, let's go ahead and eat," Mitsuru announced, grabbing the attention of everyone, especially Akihiko.

"Man, I've been waiting for this all day. Trained hard and everything! BRING ON THE STEAK!"

"Patience, Akihiko," Mitsuru smiled. They all sat down at a round table with cards with green on one side and red on the other. A waiter came up to them, dressed in a fancy bowtie set.

"Good evening, I am Taksmatsu and I will be your waiter this evening. Is everyone aware of how Brazilian Steak works?" Mitsuru and Akihiko answered yes, while the rest just shook their heads.

"Alright. Well how this works is that first, you will get a trip to the salad bar (it is not recommended to eat too much from there). After that, there will be waiters that carry large sticks of various meats to eat. This will happen once you flip the card to green. When you want to stop, flip the card over to red to signify that you are done and/or taking a break. Got it?" Everyone nodded their heads.

"Good, what will we like to drink?"

"A round of your lemonade, please," Mitsuru automatically answered. The waiter nodded and left. Mitsuru looked at the teens sitting across the table.

"Now I was going to speak to you all tomorrow about this, but while we're here, let's start off, shall we. I would like to hear what happened in Inaba this past year. I know it had something to do with the shadows. So please, do tell." Yu decided he would be the one to tell, with the others filling in their parts of the story.

"Well I'll speak until the food gets here. I doubt that we can talk once we start eating."

"All is still well with me, so go on."

Yu started when he arrived in Inaba. They went all the way up until Kanji's shadow, in which he started interjecting a little bit. Then, the drinks and food arrived and all progress was lost. Akihiko, Kanji, Minako, and Yu were having the meal of their life, while Mitsuru, Rise, and Naoto ate about a quarter of that amount. They went through the lemonade like it was water. They were at this for two hours before Akihiko finally slowed to a stop.

"I…think I had enough protein for the entire year…" Akihiko choked out while caressing his stomach. He managed to finish off five plates worth of steak and an extra three worth of chicken and sides. This does not include the single plate-full of appetizers. Kanji totaled four plates while Yu and Minako stopped at three. Mitsuru, Rise, and Naoto only finished a plate and a half worth of food.

"Well we shall continue this conversation tomorrow morning at 11:00. Yes?" Yu and the others nodded their heads. They all left the restaurant and into the lobby, where it was a dome at least 10 stories high.

"Hey, Yu!" Rise suddenly spoke, "wanna spend the night with us?" Yu looked at the three others not from Inaba, they all gave a nod of approval, including Minako.

"Okay," Yu said, looking at Rise directly in the eyes. He turned around to see the three pile into the limo. Minako rolled down her window.

"DON'T FORGET TO USE **PROTECTION**!" Yu and Rise winced and the limo pulled away with Minako's hyena-like laugh fading into the darkness. Rise looked up at Yu, then back in the direction of the limo pulling away.

"Is it me, or does Minako-san sound eerily similar to me?" Rise suddenly asked

"I thought the same thing the first time I met her," Yu replied as he took her hand and went back to where Kanji and Naoto were. They all went up to the suite that Mitsuru rented out for them.

"You mean you met her before this?"

"Yeah. She's a classmate of mine at Gekkoukan in the same year. Although I wonder what she does after school since I don't see her often anyways. Now I think I got it. She works for Mitsuru and the Shadow Ops, but does that mean she can use a persona?"

"Yeah. I was scanning her out of habit, and she does have a persona. Eurydice, wasn't it."

"Ahhh…" They got off the elevator and walked to the end of the hallway where the room was located. When they opened up the room, Yu was floored at how fancy the room was. Not in the Shirakawa Boulevard way, but in a tasteful, rich-person way.

"…THIS IS YOU GUY'S ROOM?!"

"Yup," Kanji spoke, "knocked Naoto out first time, too, haha." Naoto gave him a fairly weak punch to the shoulder. Kanji still chuckled walking inside.

"So Yu and I will take a room. That means you two will have to share a room," Rise started mischievously. She did the whole rubbing her hands together for effect, too, which scared Yu. Kanji and Naoto both tomato red…"and there is nothing you can do about it."

Kanji and Naoto both looked at each other and gave in. They both retreated into their room to unpack. Rise and Yu went into their room and unpacked as well, not that Yu had anything to unpack. He just remembered that he needed to call his parents to notify them he will not be coming home.

"Hey Rise. I need to call my parents real quick!"

"Okay!" Yu called his parents. There were three rings

…one ring…

…two rings…

…three rings…

_Narukami Residence_

Kyousuke was just about to retreat to his room when he heard his cell phone ring. He groaned at the thought of being another prospective client.

"Who would want to do business at 23:00 anyways?!" He looked down at the caller ID: Yu (son).

'Yeah…I better pick this up.' "Kyousuke Narukami speaking."

"_Hi, Dad."_

"Hi, son! Are you enjoying yourself with the boss?"

"_Well that's what I was going to ask you about. Can I stay over at the hotel with my friends tonight?"_

"Wait…you want to stay in a hotel room with Mitsuru-san?!"

"_NO! I mean a couple of my friends from Inaba are staying here. I just want to spend some time with them." Another voice joined in, notably female. "AND HE WANTS TO SPEND TIME WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND AS WELL!" _This was loud enough for Kirino to hear from the bedroom. She quickly came outside.

"Who was that?" Kyousuke asked, wondering where that shout came from.

"_Hehehehehe…that was one my friends. She's kinda hyper right now."_

"No, I swore I hear 'girlfriend' in there…"

"_AND YOU'RE RIGHT, NARUKAMI-SAN!"_

"So this is the girlfriend you were talking about?" Kirino interjected, startling Kyousuke and knocking him to the ground.

"_Yup! And he can spend the night here, right?"_

'Okay…she sounds a lot like Risette from TV…wait a second…' Kirino and Kyousuke looked at each other and tried to register the voice in their heads. '…no way…'

"Our son is dating Risette!" they both shouted at the same time to each other!

_Room 4515 – The Water Towers_

Yu winced as they shouted those words. He looked at Rise, who was giggling on the bed. He mentally sighed.

"And this is what happens when you have doting parents who worry so much about your love life..."

"_Okay, son. You can spend the night with your friends and girlfriend. But need I remind you that you need to use __**protection**__!"_

"Okay, okay! I'm not THAT dumb!"

"_Hahaha, okay! Just have fun! It's the weekend! Good night! I expect you home tomorrow evening no later than 9:00pm, understand?"_

"Yes, father."

"_Good. Now good night!"_

"Night, father." If that was not the most awkward parent-son conversation, he did not know what was. All he can think of now was Rise on the bed, waiting for him to do something.

"Let's go out to the living room and chill with the others for a bit, yeah?" Rise stood up and followed Yu out of the room to where Kanji and Naoto sat across from each other. There were board games beneath the table. One looked rather interesting to Naoto.

"Settlers of Catan…this shall be rather interesting to play…" They took out the game and set it up. Learning how to play this massively complicated game took a lot longer than they expected, but they finally got the gist of it down and begun to play it. This was a normal scene from the game.

Kanji looked across towards Yu, whose white roads where slowly creeping up to his orange settlements. He luckily got control over the lumber port as well as the quarter of the block closest to him. He had the pair of dice in his hands. The air was suddenly heavy as he shook the dice, hoping to get a 5 where he had two settlements and a city on, granting him a monopoly on lumber. He threw it out and it rolled…an eight. Rise and Yu got resources while Kanji was left to sulk in his misery.

"Yo, Senpai…"

"…yeah?"

"You got any lumber?"

"I thought you had all the lumber!"

"So no?"

"Nope."

"Uhhh…Rise?"

"Nope!"

"…Naoto?"

"Sorry, Kanji-kun, but I used my last lumber to build that road that effectively cut off Rise-chan's road network. It seems she is limited to just that area between me and Senpai…" Rise looked over and saw her network of red was completely separated by Naoto's great wall of blue.

"Awww damn it! And Naoto just got the longest road!" The game went on like this for two hours before Naoto revealed she had three knights, giving her the largest army…and the final victory point of the game.

"Whew," Yu said, "that took a lot out of me. Let's head to bed, guys. We have to be somewhere at 11:00 tomorrow." They all went to their rooms and got ready for bed. Yu and Rise got ready for bed, with Yu borrowing most of Rise's things. He stripped down to his boxers and hopped on the bed. Rise, knowing what she wants to do, stripped down to her panties and hopped on the bed as well. Yu could not resist looking at the beautiful form Rise is, with her vivacious curves that wounded him up tight in all the right places. She rolled over to face him while the light was still on.

"Hey, Yu."

"Hmmm?"

"You know how I'm going to be moving away from Inaba to start my career up again?"

"…yeah…"

"Well…they decided to put me back up here in Iwatodai, starting today. I'll be moving back in with my parents." Yu was shocked; he would be living in the same city as his girlfriend.

'YES! NO MORE LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP FOR MEEE!'

"I'm so happy for you!" Yu responding with a loving tone, "this means we'll get to see each other often."

"Also, I plan on doing part-time at Gekkoukan High School. You go there, right?"

"I do…but how are you going to pull off the part-time thing?"

"Mitsuru-san will find a way, I'm sure of it."

'Looks like something we'll ask her tomorrow…' "~sigh~ I love you, Rise…."

"I love you, too, Yu…" They embraced each other in a long kiss before Yu reached over to shut off the lamp. Needless to say, they did not keep still for a while. Things in the other room, however, were not going as smoothly.

"Kanji-kun," Naoto suddenly said as she looked back from the bathroom, "why, may I ask, are you sleeping on the floor?" Kanji gave a low grunt.

"Because you can take the bed! I'll sleep on the floor."

"Nonsense!" she shouted back, "I'm fine (she blushed while saying this) sleeping in the same bed as you." On the floor, Kanji was already a very deep shade of red.

"Fine! I'll sleep in the same bed as you if it makes you happy!" he shouted even louder as he got into bed with Naoto. He usually slept shirtless with some nightwear pants, while Naoto slept in a full set of pajamas. Naoto looked over to his much toned upper body and noticed he was already passed out. She smiled gently and fell asleep with her body positioned towards him. She also slowly passed out, not really caring about the muffled noise from the other room.

-_5/13/2012 – Clear Skies_-

Sunlight penetrated the windows looking out to the crystal-clear waters of the harbor, waking up a rather groggy Yu Narukami. He felt a warm, naked body pinned up right next to him, which his arm was draped around. He looked over the sleeping form and looked at it, petted it with his free hand, and tore away his trapped hand to get up. He looked at the clock when his alarm went off.

'Heh…woke up just in time. Now how to wake sleeping beauty up…' He had always had this problem with Rise when she slept over; it was near impossible to wake her up normally. He located his boxers, which somehow landed on the other side of the room along with Rise's panties.

'Did we…really throw them that far?' He walked over to pick them up and threw them on, walking back to the bed and waking Rise up with the best method he knows. He hopped back into bed and slammed his lips against hers. At this motion, Rise's eyes popped right open to find Yu's face smiling back at her.

"Well good morning, sleeping beauty. We've got a date with Mitsuru-san in an hour and a half, so let's get ready."

In the other room at the same time, the alarm clock on Naoto's phone rang, waking the detective up from her slumber. The first thing she noticed was that she was not receiving any sunlight from the window behind the bed. Instead, she was staring at a particular upper chest of rather well-toned physique. She blushed as she found her arms wrapped around said body and his arms wrapped around hers. Moreover, she was pinned against him, which means her breasts were pinned up against his chest.

'Hoooo boy…' was her first thought as she tried to free herself. She tried pushing him off, but ended up on top of the teen. This made her blush even harder. Kanji started to mumble something…that had her name in it. She blushed even harder, but this meant that her hands were now level with the bed and could be pulled out. She carefully got off the sleeping giant and got ready.

Soon afterwards, Kanji had still not woken up yet, so she decided to test out one of her theories. A human will react instantly to loud noises while asleep since it is a sudden change in decibels. She quickly set the alarm on her phone to go off within the next minute at the loudest setting possible, and put it right next to his ears. Within the minute, a very loud alarm went off, sending the sleeping giant off the bed and into a fetal position. Yu commented on this through the wall.

"That's a loud alarm you got there, Naoto."

Naoto looked over at Kanji and started to chuckle.

"Are you always this fun to wake up?"

"DAMN YOU, NAOTO!"

"Quiet down. We have a meeting to attend to in an hour. I would rather us not be late."

"…okay…" Kanji said defeated. They quickly got ready and found themselves at the hotel's café for a quick breakfast…or so they thought.

"Man, I'm full from last night," Yu complained, holding his stomach with one hand and Rise's in the other. Rise also held her stomach, looking miserable. Naoto and Kanji just walked in silence, cursing anything that had beef in it. They decided to just grab a cup of orange juice on the way out to the drive way, waiting for their ride. Soon enough, a limo arrived and they were on their way to Paulowina Mall. They walked from the entrance to the café where they were told to meet up.

"Hey…this is bigger than the one in Okina." Yu noted. They waited for the other three to show up.

"Where are they? It's 11:00, right?" Kanji impatiently asked.

"Patience, Kanji-kun. Patience," Naoto chanted calmly, putting a hand on his back. He took an instant blush to this. Rise noticed and started poking fun at the two.

"Awww…this is cute! Did something happen with you two last night?" Kanji and Naoto looked at each other.

"No!" they both yelled, their blushes not helping.

"So something DID happen last night! Tell me all about it…"

"Nothing happened last night; we all passed out," Naoto quickly said, clamming up in the process.

"Well, save the details for later. Looks like our dates are here." They saw the forms of Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Minako take shape as they entered the main mall area. They all met up at the entrance and went inside to the coffee shop. Mitsuru had them all sit down with combined tables.

"Would any of you like some coffee?" Yu remembered the Pheromone Coffee; he would not drink that if he wanted to actually stay up…

"I think we're good."

"I'll take a dark roast," Naoto requested. Mitsuru nodded and looked over to Akihiko.

"The usual?" He nodded as well. Rise noticed he sat rather close to Mitsuru. "How about you, Arisato?"

"I'll take the Pheromone Coffee." Yu gasped at this.

'She's committing suicide!' Mitsuru walked over to the counter and ordered the drinks, then came back to where she was sitting, inching ever closer to Akihiko.

"So while we're waiting on the drinks, let us start off where we left off. Would you like to continue, Tatsumi-san?" Kanji nodded. They continued the story while the drinks came out. Rise and Naoto interjected whenever they needed to, especially at their shadow portions. Everyone shared their versions of what happened with Nanako, Adachi and Ameno-sagiri, and Marie and Izanami. Mitsuru and Akihiko were awestruck, while Minako tilted her head in confusion.

"So let me get this straight," Mitsuru began as she clarified herself, "there was a god that awakened to bring about humanity's desire, which was to live in a fog of lies and deceit?" Everyone nodded. "And Narukami-san over here awoke to a power that was triggered by said god?" Yu nodded. "And you all awakened to your potential by being forced into a dimension where shadows live and breed and battled a shadow version of yourselves?" Everyone nodded. "And you all stopped the fog, which will eventually turn humans into shadows?" Everyone nodded. "And Narukami-san single-handedly brought down this goddess of the dead?" Everyone nodded.

'Geeez…this is sounding like what we went through…' Akihiko thought bitterly.

"And this Teddie character I met in the TV world the other week. You said he is a shadow?" Everyone nodded. "How is a shadow able to live and breathe in the human world…much less behave like a human?"

"Let me shed some light on that subject," Naoto interjected, "I remember once saying to him that a shadow is suppressed power… once controlled by the ego, it becomes a Persona…doesn't it follow, then, that you must have developed an ego? Whether the ego masters its Shadow, or the Shadow awakens to its ego…the only difference I see is the order in which the process occurred. I did some research on Jungian Psychology while researching the case." Mitsuru nodded.

"So based on that theory, you're saying that shadows have the potential to have life essences?"

"Well, I wouldn't go that far…"

"But," Akihiko interjected, "this Teddie friend of yours is alive…and in the human world! That must count for something, right?"

"Well he did awaken to his ego…I don't know about the life essence part," Rise added in.

"This must be researched on. Thank you all for your help. Some monetary rewards for you all are in order."

"There's no need," Naoto politely declined, "we are only here to provide our knowledge to someone who shares similar experiences." Rise was thinking of something to add on when she remembered something.

"Oh yeah! Mitsuru-san, I want to transfer to Gekkoukan High School as a part-time student since my job is quite demanding. Is there any way you can pull that off?" Mitsuru thought about it for a long while.

"Are you sure you'll be okay with the crowds there? You are quite popular, you know. It won't get any easier with you dating Narukami-san."

"We can handle it just fine, right Yu?" He nodded.

"Well, I'll see what I can do on my end. By the looks of it, you will be getting a lot more homework and will be required to attend class once to twice a week. Your tour schedule can be worked out with the principal and he can set up some distance education methods for you if need be. Trust me, I can make that happen. I do own the school, after all."

"Thank you, Mitsuru-san. I definitely owe you one."

"Oh, it's no problem at all, anything for a fellow persona user. Well we bid you all adieu." Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Minako walked out from the café. Minako turned around and waved to Yu.

"Bye! It was nice meeting all of you! I'll see you at school, Yu-kun! And you, too, Rise-san!"

"See yah!" Everyone yelled back. Soon, the (half) Investigation Team went on a full day of shopping, eating, and other things…to the dismay of Yu, Naoto, and Kanji. Soon, it was time for Naoto and Kanji to board the train back to Inaba. The chauffeur of the limo waited outside on the driveway in front of the station.

"We'll see you around during summer vacation!" Rise yelled at Kanji and Naoto, who were one floor above.

"Try not to miss us too much, Senpai and Rise!" Kanji yelled.

"Stay safe and have fun, Rise-chan and Senpai!" Naoto also yelled. They boarded the train right afterwards. Yu and Rise rode back to their apartments, cuddling with each other. Rise happen to live in the same apartment complex as Yu, much to his surprise.

"Wow…I didn't know we lived this close!" Rise exclaimed, "We're only one floor apart, after all!"

"This could get very interesting if our parents decide to meet," Yu agreed, cringing at the last thought. They both parted with Yu living on the 2nd floor and Rise living on the 3rd floor. These apartments had two stories in each unit, so it was quite the trip for Rise to walk up. This year would prove very interesting for the couple.

* * *

-_?-_

_An Unknown Location_

A lone man was sitting in his apartment staring at a TV. He had bags under his eyes to where it was as if he stayed up for several days. The static slowly pulses on the screen, moving in waves and sometimes bubbles. It was the dead of night, midnight to be exact. His eyes started to dilate as a disembodied voice filled his head. He began to lose all sense of balance and became disoriented.

"My perfect vessel…you have what it takes to help me release the beast and cause the Fall. You will bring down the one they call Kirijo…" The man continued to stare at the screen and could only croak two words…

"…yes master…"

* * *

**A/N: **Again, apologies for the slow update, but this project is not my main project, so updates will be slow. Also, note how Minato/Makoto is in a **deep**** coma **and not **dead**. Mrs. Watanabe is Ms. Kanou from Persona 3 (Kenji's Ms. Kanou). I know a lot of information was thrown here, so please don't hesitate to PM me to clear things up. To keep with the Japanese culture, I kept things like honorifics, the metric system, and 24-hour time in the dialogue, while I use whatever is comfortable in narration (sans the metric system since that needs to be consistent). Also, if you didn't notice, I broke the 4th wall a couple times. As always, read, love, review! :)


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